The Cellar Image of the Day is just a section of a larger web community: bright folks talking about everything. The Cellar is the original coffeeshop with no coffee and no shop. Founded in 1990, The Cellar is one of the oldest communities on the net. Join us at the table if you like!

The crater is 23 miles (35 km) wide, 1.2 miles deep, and that stuff in the middle is a frozen disc of water about 200 meters thick. Oh yeah, and it's on Mars.

BigV sends along this ApoD. The image itself was taken in February by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on
board Mars Express, the European Space Agency probe which is exploring the planet.

Queen of the Ryche Wednesday Aug 3 02:54 PM

Wow. So that would make this "puddle" about 7 miles across? Impressive. And fascinating. Thanks BigV.

Trilby Wednesday Aug 3 03:28 PM

I love the Cellar for many reasons and this is certainly one of them. Simply amazing--and I've not seen this pic anywhere but here. UT - you rock for making this possible! Plus, I'm trying to ingratiate myself to you seeing as how you've Skull & Bones connections and all....

footfootfoot Wednesday Aug 3 03:29 PM

I'm told that mars crater water is *the only* water to mix with single malt whiskey.

Queen of the Ryche Wednesday Aug 3 03:50 PM

And stirred gently, only with a Hopkin Leg.

mickja1 Wednesday Aug 3 04:24 PM

That is really cool for two reasons: 1) it makes it possible that life of some form exists/existed on Mars (at least bacteria, it is unlikely to be sterile), and 2) we can now send a manned mission to Mars. The water can be used for sustinence, generating oxygen, and generating fuel for a return to earth trip.

capnhowdy Wednesday Aug 3 04:24 PM

I heard somewhere recently that mars would be closer to the earth this month than it will be in a long, long time. I think the closest on the 27th. I better do some research before I say much more.....
great stuff. I love it.

dar512 Wednesday Aug 3 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickja1

That is really cool for two reasons: 1) it makes it possible that life of some form exists/existed on Mars (at least bacteria, it is unlikely to be sterile), and 2) we can now send a manned mission to Mars. The water can be used for sustinence, generating oxygen, and generating fuel for a return to earth trip.

As a former X-Ray Technologist, highly and obsessively monitored, I say Pah! What's the cancer rate of radiologists? Of techs? Lots of techs and rads die of thyroid CA...and worse. It's getting better but far above the national standard. Do you see anyone saying radiologic procedures should be banned?

gerstle Wednesday Aug 3 04:48 PM

mmmm...
pappy van winkle bourbon over martian iceberg...

papabell Wednesday Aug 3 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnhowdy

I heard somewhere recently that mars would be closer to the earth this month than it will be in a long, long time. I think the closest on the 27th. I better do some research before I say much more.....
great stuff. I love it.

You're a little late capn

"At 5:51 a.m. EDT on Aug. 27, 2003, Mars will be within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) of Earth. This will be the closest that Mars has come to our planet in nearly 60,000 years." - http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mars...ew_021108.htmlxoxoxoBruce Wednesday Aug 3 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickja1

That is really cool for two reasons: 1) it makes it possible that life of some form exists/existed on Mars (at least bacteria, it is unlikely to be sterile), and 2) we can now send a manned mission to Mars. The water can be used for sustinence, generating oxygen, and generating fuel for a return to earth trip.

Damn right, we must exploit every resource in the universe, we must! capnhowdy Wednesday Aug 3 08:08 PM

Strange, I tried the 3-D glasses and it looked like a hill instead of a depression. When I turned them around (cheap paper kind, rebend) and put the red lens on the left instead of the right, it looked great. No idea why??

Perry Winkle Thursday Aug 4 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Strange, I tried the 3-D glasses and it looked like a hill instead of a depression. When I turned them around (cheap paper kind, rebend) and put the red lens on the left instead of the right, it looked great. No idea why??

Alas, the Anaglyph 3D Glasses Standards Committee has much work to do. In fact, I believe even the two images Slight posted use opposite standards.

magilla Thursday Aug 4 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnhowdy

Damn.... I guess I'll blame it on the 70's....
some IDOT no, (I didn't forget the i), emailed that to me just 2 weeks ago. That's my fuck up for this month.

No, you got it right. Yes, back in March it was the closest in 60K years. But THIS month Mars is again close, just not quite as close as it was before.

Chrisfootfootfoot Thursday Aug 4 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Queen of the Ryche

And stirred gently, only with a Hopkin Leg.

It's getting tougher and tougher to find a good hopkin leg these days, especially since I misplaced mine...Elspode Thursday Aug 4 04:45 PM

We've known for years that there was water ice on Mars, comingled to some extent with CO2 ice. What is unique about the crater is that it is all water ice, discrete and separate from frozen carbon dioxide. This crater is located one of the polar regions, however, making it kin to the ice caps we can easily see with a modest telescope.

Let me know when they find liqid water standing at the Martian equator. *That* will be exciting.

BigV Thursday Aug 4 05:33 PM

with ambient air pressure approximately 1% of what we enjoy here on our big blue marble, that water would sublimate (not melt->evaporate, since it's soooo cold. brrr.) But you're right on. That *would* be exciting. Very very.

capnhowdy Thursday Aug 4 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigV

with ambient air pressure approximately 1% of what we enjoy here on our big blue marble, that water would sublimate (not melt->evaporate, since it's soooo cold. brrr.) But you're right on. That *would* be exciting. Very very.

If the water did [sublimate] , it would probably become part of the planet's "atmosphere" and never make it back to the ground. Obvously the planet hasn't had any major changes in climate in eons.
I thought I saw my uncle Cleve strolling around in the last image.... xoxoxoBruce Thursday Aug 4 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnhowdy

Obvously the planet hasn't had any major changes in climate in eons.

Well we can fix that little problem pretty quickly. Hell, we can make it a ghetto in a couple of years, once we get there. Elspode Monday Aug 8 12:51 AM

Get our asses up there and pump several trillion metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, we'll have 'er put to rights in no time.